LE

What have you done about securing your citizenship under the Nationality Act of 2045? I've done nothing as it didn't occur to me up until now that citizenship could be arbitrarily taken away as the result of a regulatory technicality.

Once during a fever I remembered that when a European is dying, there is usually some sort of ceremony in which he asks the pardon of others and pardons them. I have a great many enemies, and I thought, what should my answer be if some modernized persons should ask me my views on this? After considering it, I decided: Let them go on hating me. I shall not forgive a single one of them.

War Hero

What have you done about securing your citizenship under the Nationality Act of 2045? I've done nothing as it didn't occur to me up until now that citizenship could be arbitrarily taken away as the result of a regulatory technicality.

Once during a fever I remembered that when a European is dying, there is usually some sort of ceremony in which he asks the pardon of others and pardons them. I have a great many enemies, and I thought, what should my answer be if some modernized persons should ask me my views on this? After considering it, I decided: Let them go on hating me. I shall not forgive a single one of them.

LE

I think that the destruction of the Landing Cards etc. timing is immaterial, the changes to the Immigration Act in 2014 actually caused the problem.It's enactment made thousands who came here in the 1950'60's Illegal Immigrants unless they could show proof of the opposite. Where previously you would be allowed to reside pending investigation, after 2014 ,deportation happened and then investigation was then carried out from the country deported to. Also how many actually have 4 items of 'evidence' for every year of residence in the UK which makes it extremely difficult to prove entitlement that was the point of the Legislation, to make it extremely difficult to reside without evidence of entitlement.The (hopefully) unforeseen consequence was that once deported that person becomes effectively 'Stateless' and would find it hard to overturn the decision, which if you had lived and contributed to UK economy for 50years or more is cruel in the extreme.

The thing is, it's not (or shouldn't be) down to any individual to have to second-guess what any government department is doing that might have an impact on their life.

The onus is on the government to inform you of any important change, not the other way around, for example when your tax contributions are altered, you are told about it and not expected to find out the next time you get paid.

In this case however, it's not so much that the HO didn't bother to inform those effected about any change in policy (though that's bad enough), but when it became apparent that there were British citizens (as opposed to illegal immigrants) who were affected by the change but unaware of it, the HO acted in a cold, remote and spiteful manner, knowing full well that they were trashing the lives of British citizens.

No matter which way you cut it, that's piss-poor behaviour on the part of the HO.

LE

ca. 1977 my cousin wanted out of S Rhodesia and to go and live in Queensland. For that he needed a passport. In those days entitlement only came in the male line (that's changed) and his father, seriously wounded twice in France while serving in the Cheshires in WW1, had been born in India to my great grandfather who was an Army chaplain and had also been born there, as HIS father had been an HEIC chaplain. Richard did end up in QLD but how the passport thing was sorted I don't know. All I do know is that none of that chain of four thought of themselves as anything but British, but the Govt thought otherwise. The father (who had already died when all this blew up) when re-emigrating to ZA and later moving to Rhodesia between the wars certainly did so on a Britjsh passport.

' .. the whole character of what Churchill called 'the island race' is being threatened without even the pretence of consultation with those involved.'
Norman Longmate, 'When we Won the War', 1977

LE

As far as I can see the H/O seems cracking at granting indefinate leave to remain to the useless cnuts that fall out of the back of lorrys as soon as they come out with a sob story, but utterly useless at protecting the genuine rights of people who have a genuine connection with and contribution to the country.

1. It was, repeatedly, the Home Office ignored and dismissed the warnings.

2. It was raised in Parliament as the Bill went through, again the issue was ignored and dismissed.

3. They be rich and better informed. The people must affected by this are the poorer ones who had no need or could not afford passports etc. Also less educated about their rights and what they had to do to resolve it, the government also failed to warn if these changes. But they came here as British citizens and have had the rug pulled out from under their feet. Why should British Citizens have to prove they are British to their own government?

Last edited: 20 Apr 2018

Arrse's very own bartender imparting wisdom, wit and all things boozey.